The Talk
by defiaureve
Summary: Just a piece of shippy fluff I thought I would share. Mulder and Mrs. Scully have a talk about his future with her daughter that inspires Mulder to think outside of his box.


The Talk

By SisShippy

**A/N: This is a story I wrote several months ago and forgot about until recently. It's a whole lot of fluff and about as shippy as you can get. **

**Also, I want to take this time to thank all of those who have taken their time to read and review my stories. Your feedback means so much to me and is always an inspiration. Thank you all!**

Disclaimer: Same song, different verse. Chris Carter owns it all but the song, which isn't mine either, and I will make no profit. Copyright infringement is not intended.

**Mrs. Scully's**

**10:45 pm**

"I'm going to shower and get ready for bed," Scully announced as she finished loading the dishes into the dishwasher. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay Dana," Mrs. Scully responded. She had sensed that Mulder wanted the opportunity to talk to her and went in search of him. She found him in the living room, sitting in front of the fire. "Hello, Fox."

"Hi, I was just going to come join the two of you in the kitchen."

"Is there something on your mind, Fox?"

He had no idea how she did it, how she always seemed to know what everyone was thinking before they did. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Uh . . .where's Scully?"

Mrs. Scully released a soft sigh, "Dana went to shower." Not wanting to waste any time, Mrs. Scully started the conversation he was a little too nervous to begin. "This is about her, isn't it?"

"One of these days, you're going to have to tell me how you do that."

"Is that a yes?"

He took a deep breath and nodded, "yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Mulder remained silent for several minutes, trying to find the right words. He felt sure Mrs. Scully knew exactly what he was going to say, but wanted him to say it. "I love her . . .Scu . . .Dana . . .your daughter."

Mrs. Scully nodded, "go on, there's more."

He reached into his pocket and produced a small box. Mulder opened it and stared at its contents and turned it to face Scully's mother for her approval. "I want your permission."

"Fox, when Dana was battling her cancer I was so afraid. Afraid that her life would end before it ever really began, before she ever allowed herself to be truly happy. When she won that fight, which I believe you were a very large part of, I could stop praying for her health to return and start praying that she would let herself love you - let you love her. She has always been so independent and stubborn always the strong one, always the right one, always relying on herself and no one else, always her own person. I've always wanted my children to be happy, I want the same thing for you, Fox."

"Thank you," he said softly, not wanting to break the bond that had been formed over the last few minutes.

Mrs. Scully's eyes traveled to the family pictures behind them on the sofa table. "He would have liked you. In some ways you remind me of him." She hadn't mentioned the name of her late husband, but Mulder knew to whom she was referring. "He always loved Dana. When she went off to medical school he was so proud," she hesitated before continuing, "and when she joined the FBI he was furious. He saw it as an act of rebellion at first, and then he was just worried about her safety. Dana, Starbuck, was the apple of her daddy's eye and she . . .well, she thought he hung the moon."

"She still does," Mulder informed in almost a whisper.

Mrs. Scully took the ring from the box and held it in her hand. "Dana's found the happiness she deserves, so have you, Fox. True love comes along once in a lifetime, if you're lucky, and so many people are too blind to see it. I'm so glad to see that you aren't going to be one of the many; instead you are daring to be one of the few."

"Does this mean I have your permission?"

"Yes, Fox, you have my blessing. When do you plan to . . .?" Mrs. Scully put the ring back in the box and handed it back to her future son-in-law.

"Soon. I had wanted to wait until Christmas, but now . . .now I don't think I can. Dana didn't want to rush into anything and I don't want to make her feel that I'm pressuring her."

Mrs. Scully shook her head. "She won't feel that way. Confidentially speaking, Dana has been waiting for this for years."

"She has?"

"Yes. Don't misunderstand, she has never said in so many words. If anything, she has spent more time trying to convince me the two of you are 'just friends' than anything else." Mrs. Scully noticed a blush slowly creeping up Mulder's face. "A mother knows, Fox. Christmas isn't that far away."

"It's far enough. I promised when I did propose that it would be the most romantic moment of her life, and . . .well, to be honest I have never been very good at romance."

"Anything you plan, anything that comes from your heart, will be perfect, Fox. Listen to her, listen with your heart as well as your head and she will tell you her idea of romance."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, you'll know when you hear it. Your heart will tell you." Mrs. Scully patted Mulder's hand and stood up, "I'm going to go to bed before Dana catches us talking. She's liable to think we are conspiring against her."

Mulder shook his head and smiled. "We have this agreement."

"An agreement?"

"Yes, we agreed that I will always be the paranoid one, I've had years of practice. Besides, she's good at being the skeptic."

Mrs. Scully laughed, "goodnight, Fox. Sleep well."

"Goodnight . . ." he wasn't sure what he should call her. Mrs. Scully seemed too formal and Maggie or Margaret seemed too casual.

"Mom," she replied, ending his struggle for words. "You can call me Mom."

"Goodnight, Mom." Mulder waited a few moments before going up to get ready for bed himself.

Scully went downstairs in search of Mulder, only to find the bottom portion of the house empty. Soft footsteps signaled that someone, likely her mother, would be joining her momentarily. "Mom?"

"I just came down to say goodnight. It's been a busy day and I'm a bit tired."

"Okay, Mom. Sleep well." Scully hugged her mother and kissed her cheek.

"I heard Fox upstairs," Mrs. Scully noted with a wink, "just in case you were wondering."

Scully gave her mother an embarrassed smile and hoped she didn't notice the blush. "Goodnight, Mom, and thanks."

Mrs. Scully laughed softly, "goodnight, Dana."

Dana Scully waited until she heard the door to her mother's room close before she rushed upstairs to find Mulder. She knocked softly on the door, "Mulder, it's me," she whispered through the closed door.

"Come on in," he called back in a low voice.

She opened the door and stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind her. She rushed into Mulder's embrace and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "I love you," she whispered into his chest.

"I love you, too." For a moment, he thought she had heard him talking to her mother when she was supposed to be in the shower. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to sneak in here before Mom did the midnight bed checks," she teased.

"Hmmm, maybe you can hide under the bed and she'll never know you're in here."

"I think she would be more upset if I weren't," Scully laughed.

"You know, I'm not very sleepy." Mulder commented as he absent mindedly rubbed Scully's back.

"Me either. What do you propose we do with this unexpected free time?"

Propose? She couldn't know. No, she had used that same phrasing before she was just talking. Mulder inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "Talk?"

"Talk?"

"Talk. We don't get to talk enough, Scully. Not on a personal level anyway." Mulder took Scully by the hand and led her out the door and downstairs. "Why don't you tell me about your childhood? Your hopes for the future? Your father? Anything really."

"What's the sudden interest with my past, Mulder?"

"No _sudden _interest, it's just that we are at your mother's house and it seems like the perfect place to talk about my favorite subject." Mulder grinned and pulled her close to him.

Scully arched an eyebrow and tried to think up a story to tell Mulder. "Well, the first thing that comes to mind is my dad."

"The two of you were very close, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Until the FBI anyway. He saw my joining the bureau as an act of rebellion, and one I'm not sure he ever forgave me for."

"He was your father, I'm sure he supported your decision. I think it was more worry than anything. The FBI isn't exactly as safe as working in a pie factory, you know."

"Yeah."

"What is your favorite memory of your dad?"

Scully thought for a long moment and shrugged. "I don't really have a favorite. All of my time spent with Ahab was special. This is nice, Mulder, watching the fire while cuddled up on the sofa and wrapped in your arms."

"It almost seems . . . normal."

"Close enough for me. Normal can be . . .I don't know . . . mediocre."

"I thought you were the one complaining about all the running around chasing after monsters and little green men."

Scully smiled, "yeah, I did. But I don't want to be completely 'normal', if there is such a thing."

"You don't believe in normal?" Mulder asked hoping for further explanation.

"I believe that normal has no solid definition. I believe that normal is synonymous with mediocrity. I believe . . ."

Mulder but a finger over her lips, "shh, rest assured that normal, Mulder style, is far from mediocre."

"When I was battling my cancer, when I nearly lost . . . you were my constant, the normalcy that I craved. At a time when everything was uncertain, down to my next breath, you were there lending me courage and hope. You were there to make me believe in a tomorrow. If that is your version of normal, Mulder, then it is far from mediocre."

They talked long into the night and fell asleep on the couch. When Mrs. Scully came down in the morning she was pleasantly surprised to see them intertwined on her sofa and sleeping peacefully. She sighed a happy, contented sigh to herself and went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee.

"Fox, did I ever tell you how Scully's father proposed to me?"

"No, you didn't, but I have a feeling you're about to."

She smiled and nodded as she began the short version of her story. "I was standing on the dock when his ship docked. The song, "Beyond The Sea" was playing as he marched off the ship and right up to me. He proposed then and there. Bill never thought he was the romantic type either, Fox, but to me that was one of his most romantic moments. Do you and Dana have a song?"

Mulder shook his head slowly, "not . . .really."

"I don't suppose you've come up with any ideas about the things we talked about yesterday."

"No, and it isn't from a lack of trying."

Mrs. Scully patted his knee, "you will in time."

A smile crossed his face. "Has she ever been serenaded?"

"Not to my knowledge. If she has, she never told me about it."

"Would you throw a shoe at anyone if they should do such a thing?"

"Oh my, no. And I think that is truly romantic, Fox."

**Outside Mrs. Scully's House**

**1:05 am**

Dana Scully had gone to her room and just started to doze off when she heard loud music coming from outside. Thinking it was a bunch of teenagers that decided to park too close to the house, she climbed out of bed and marched downstairs to the front door, not bothering to grab her robe. When she saw Mulder standing there in a tuxedo with a dozen roses in one hand and the other hand shoved in his front pants pocket. "Mulder, what are you . . ."

He responded to her question by beginning his serenade:

One word, that's all was said,  
Something in your voice called me, turned my head.  
Your smile captured me, you were in my future as far as I could see.  
And I dont know how it happened, but it happens still.  
You ask me if I love you, if I always will...

Well, you had me from "Hello"  
I felt love start to grow the moment I looked into your eyes,  
You won me, it was over from the start.  
You completely stole my heart, and now you won't let go.  
I never even had a chance you know?  
You had me from "Hello"  
Inside I built a wall so high around my heart, I thought I'd never fall.  
One touch, you brought it down  
Bricks of my defenses scattered on the ground  
And I swore to me that I wasn't going to love again  
The last time was the last time I'd let someone in

The song continued to the end when he pulled his hand and a small box out of his front pocket and dropped onto one knee. Scully took a step forward and started to cry. Her hands trembled as she brought them to her chest and clutched them over her heart. "Dana Katherine Scully, I have loved you from the first "hello" in our basement office over six years ago. My life before you is as meaningless as a future without you would be, and no man should have to live life that way. Dana, will you make my future something worth looking forward to? Will you make me the happiest man on earth and agree to be my wife?"

Scully struggled to speak and not wanting to cause Mulder to wait any longer, she smiled and nodded. He sat the roses down next to him on the walkway and used both of his trembling hands to slip the white gold engagement ring on her trembling left hand. As he stood, he pulled her into the warmth of his embrace and lifted her off the ground. "Yes," she whispered, "Fox, I will marry you."

Mrs. Scully watched, though she knew she shouldn't, from her second story bedroom window. She turned to the photograph of her late husband that sat on the nightstand next to her bed. "I know you can see this, too, Bill. I know that you are just as happy for our daughter as I am. She's finally found the happiness she deserves."


End file.
